By Xu Aiying and Lee Jihae 
Video = BangtanTV's YouTube channel

"Our tomorrow may be dark, painful, difficult. We might stumble or fall down. Stars shine brightest when the night is darkest. But the night is always the darkest before the first light of dawn."

This is what K-pop sensation BTS said in a special video message at the United Nations in New York for future generations worldwide in the group's second appearance at the world body since 2018.

The group prerecorded a message played on Sept. 23 at the U.N. Group of Friends of Solidarity for Global Health Security on the sidelines of the 75th U.N. General Assembly. BTS members urged viewers to "relive a new world" through warm solidarity.

In the six-minute video, BTS expressed the dismay and loneliness they felt from the cancellation of their world tour due to the pandemic. Members shared stories of how they jointly created music amid their despair and solitude.

Group leader RM recalled the speech he gave at the U.N. in 2018, saying, "As a boy from the small city of Ilsan (Ilsan-gu District of Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province) in Korea, as a young man standing at the (U.N. General Assembly), as a global citizen of this world, I imagined the limitless possibilities before all of us, and my heart beating with excitement."

"But COVID-19 was beyond my imagination."

"Now more than ever, we must try to remember who we are and face who we are. We must try to love ourselves, and imagine the future," he added. 

The video ended with all seven members saying, "Life goes on" and "Let's live on."

xuaiy@korea.kr